A king cobra slithered into a car engine during a New Year party.

Chainarong Raksithong, 38, was celebrating with friends while his pickup truck was parked on the roadside in Krabi, southern Thailand on December 31.

While they were drinking and listening to music, Chainarong saw the huge snake slither from the woods across and dart under his vehicle.

He contacted the rescue team to catch the snake and they spent 10 minutes pulling the 13ft long king cobra out of the engine.

Chainarong said his family joked that the king cobra came out of the forest to help them celebrate New Year.

He said: "When we were watching the rescuers finding the snake, my family said it must be the king cobra that we believed to be a holy spirit.

"It was a shocking moment to us when the rescuers pulled it out and we found out that it actually was a king cobra."

The rescuers brought the sack into the deep wood and released it away from the house.